South Sudan: Hope for the Future
Wimborne Vicar travels to Nairobi in Kenya to support Sudanese ministry students.
Revd Peter Breckwoldt with Carlile College students, Nairobi
The Revd Peter Breckwoldt, Vicar of St John’s Wimborne, has visited Carlile College in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, as part of international links between Wimborne and South Sudan.
Peter explains, “The aim of these visits is to strengthen local leaders, either training for ministry of in ministry to be more effective when working with local churches. So far I have gone once a year, either for a week or two, depending on the request made from Carlile College, and have worked with Anglican clergy from across England.”
“I first became linked to Carlile College through the ministry of Revd Andrew Baughen. The college was keen for him to return to do Leaders In Further Training (LIFT) on preaching the New Testament. He very kindly asked me to give him some of my time.”
Revd Breckwoldt soon discovered that the college is a strategic hub for East Africa and the work of Church Army. Students come from Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and occasionally other countries.
St John’s are supporting two students from South Sudan, including Mark, the son of the Most Revd Peter Munde Yacoub, Archbishop of Western Equatoria and Bishop of Yambio.
Mark says, “I would like to thank the people of St John’s Wimborne for the support they’ve been giving me here, and I’m really grateful.
“I didn’t know it would be in such a place but, just because of the love that God has put in you to show these people like us, I really thank you for that.”
John is also from South Sudan, and has a wife and six children.
He says, “I started my education when I was almost an ‘older person’. I hope, or I want, to continue still with it until the level of degree.”
He asks for prayers for his family while they are apart. “I left them in South Sudan, but South Sudan now is not a normal place. There is conflict, and I am worried about their life.”
Revd Breckwoldt adds, “It has been a two way process. I have been able to encourage and equip students and ministers, many of whom are from South Sudan, to be more effective in teaching and preaching the Bible in a local church context. I have been able to share with them some of the latest thinking on preaching as well as give them some useful tools and ideas for handling the scriptures.
“I have also found myself deeply encouraged by their radiant faith in Jesus and their uncompromising desire to teach the Bible and to be faithful to the scriptures even when the cost is personally very high.”
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